GE Appliances CAFE Specialty Grind and Brew Coffee Maker with Thermal Carafe Matte Black

Best coffee maker ever. Purchased for my husband for Christmas, he’s a high end coffee connoisseur and this has been a hit. Have had no issues with it, as long as you maintain it, it’s like a well oiled machine. We only use distilled water to avoid calcification. And are adamant about keeping up with cleaning g the machine. Still looks new. Such a sleek and beautiful design too, so it’s more artistic than an eyesore.

This was our second coffee maker as our first one was replaced after it stopped working. This one stopped working after two months. I love the concept, especially the turning it on from bed, but if it doesn't work and I can't have my coffee and then it’s just a useless appliance.

When the product was new it ran great and looked great. What a great concept. Over time I noticed some issues. When grounds get into the basket holder it is difficult to clean out. It is also difficult to clean out the bean holder, essentially need to run it empty first. The BIGGEST ISSUE is that the lid for the carafe began to build up mold and gunk. There is no way to clean it out. Also notice some black stains in the inside of the carafe, more than usual. Noticed today that the marks were some coffee stains and some MOLD. I scrub the carafe each day with soap and water and this still occurred. The bronze handle of the carafe is also starting to flake off. The unit is just over 1 year old.

After our daughter brought her friends home for big breakfast, we realized single serve coffee was not ideal. After doing a lot of research we decided that a grind and brew coffee pot was the direction we wanted to go. The Cafe Specialty Grind and Brew looked to hit all of our (wants). It looks awesome and matches our appliance line. The grinder is a little loud but not overly (probably typical for any grinder), but it grinds perfectly and allows for grind choice. The ten cup capacity is fine for our needs and when others join us for breakfast. We like the countdown timer for brewing (our toaster has this also, gives perspective) and the clock letting you know how long it’s been since finishing the brew. Controls are easy to understand and the App is the same for all of our GE appliances, so it’s easy to set up your brew selections (Gold setting makes the perfect pot of coffee for us). The only knock, but it’s the same for most carafes, is that the coffee won’t stay hot more than a few of hours…but normally we finish the pot before that becomes an issue. We read the reviews about leeks after changing the water filter, we have not had that issue. Bottom line, love this Cafe Specially Grind and Brew.

The design is stunning and when you use your own ground coffee, you get fully customzed coffee. BUT there is NO WAY to calibrate the amount of coffee beans used per pot or cup. You can change brew strength all you want, but the amount of beans ground even on “light” is still way too much. It consistently makes too strong a coffee. We need to be able to program the grind dose per strength setting. The coffee output is too much at ANY setting! Basically, each 6 oz of coffee made (I've measured the ounces and a cup always comes out as 6 ounces!!) takes 2 Tablespoons of grounds!! WAY TOO MUCH!! We are so dissappointed as otherwise, we love the Cafe Grind and Brew.

Would not recommend at all. The grinder turns but does not grind. I even ordered a second one thinking it was just a faulty one but the second one wouldn’t grind either. It also doesn’t recognize when the bean hopper is full, you have to move them around to get it to work! Very disappointing that such an expensive product doesn’t do what it is created to do.

Received this as a Christmas gift last month overall I am impressed with the brewing styles and the flavor of my coffee. I love the convenience of the app in getting my coffee set up for the week to brew automatically. A few items I have found since using I would like to mention. 1. There is no heat only or hold function for keeping coffee hot. When it first brews it is perfect however it only last about 45 minutes. After this it is lukewarm at best and requires a heat up in the microwave. 2. Have to manually adjust the setting from carafe to mug if you want to brew a cup only from your phone it is not possible if it on carafe. 3. It uses a lot of water and beans compared to my Ninja from before. I fill up the water reserve every night and I only had to do this on my Ninja every 2-3 days. I am also going through more beans than before. Since I started using it the last 3 weeks I have already had to buy 2 bags of beans size 2.2 pounds. On my previous machine I only bought once a month. This is an added expense I wasn't expecting. 4. My housekeeper accidentally threw away my wire basket and I haven't been able to replace it. I ordered what I thought was a replacement through Amazon and it doesn't fit so the basket will close. There is no replacement part I have found on this website or Amazon. Overall, I do love the convenience of not having to have two separate appliances on the counter. I like the brewing of the coffee I haven't had so far any leaking issues except when I brewed a pot and that is when I found out my wire basket was gone. You must use some type of filter at all times.

Don’t do it. It’s pretty. It looks nice. I fell for it even after reading some bad reviews. Unless they change the engineering of the bean hopper; it won’t work. I bought one brand new, it wouldn’t grind. GE sent another, brand new, it wouldn’t grind. Worse part? You had to turn the entire contraption upside down to empty out the beans. I ordered an entire GE Cafe Suite. I bought this as an add on. Now I’m nervous, I’ll be honest.

Terrible product. Less than a year old and leaking water. Has had issues since I got it where you have to add beans or water when it wasn't the case. Looks great but not great design for the purpose. I'm no buying Cafe appliances again.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] This machine is great. Once we found the grind time on the app, it became even more perfect. The flavor of fresh ground coffee can not be beat. There are so many options that the perfect cup is possible. We also love the delay brew so we can wake up to the aroma of our freshly ground and brewed perfect cup. The carafe keeps the coffee warm for the better part of 2 hours, more if it is full. The water reservoir is so easy to clean and fill. This matches all of our other Cafe appliances and is a great addition to our kitchen.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] This brewer makes pretty good tasting coffee, however, there are some drawbacks. 1) the cost of this brewer is quite expensive. 2) I have only been using this brewer once per day (and NOT every day) for the last 6 months, and despite the fact that I meticulously clean the carafe with EVERY use, it is stained inside and on the plastic lid. 3) It is extremely labor intensive to keep the coffee shute cleaned out so it will function properly. 4) Brewing even a single cup takes at least 4-5 minutes to completely finish and 5) There is no way to use a coffee "pod" with this brewer to simplify. For these reasons, I cannot with good conscience recommend purchasing this particular coffee brewer.... the time required to clean it daily is just more than expected.

I have used this coffee maker for approximately two years, and the water now leaks continuously from the base of the reservoir, emptying the entire tank onto the floor. I have replaced the filters and maintained the machine according to the instructions, but the issue persists. Given the purchase price, it is disappointing that the unit has developed this problem, and I am uncertain whether replacing the water reservoir would resolve it. At this point, I can only fill the reservoir immediately before starting the grinder to prevent further damage to my kitchen floor.

This coffee maker does everything I want it to do grinds the beans and can do single cup or carafe. Unfortunately due to a design flaw it leaks from the water carafe.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I'M STILL LEARNING BUT SO FAR IT IS GOOD PRODUCT, BUT I NEED TO LEARN ON HOW TO USE THE FEATURES MORE. I STILL CAN NOT GET THE GRINDER TO STAY OFF(?)

I am on my 3rd machine in a yr. Issues with the grinder, pot and basket closure.

Makes fantastic coffee, until it doesn't because it starts leaking in less than 14 months, and then there is no option for repair. They will happily sell you another one. Every year, I guess. Disappointing that such an expensive product boasts such terrible build quality. It made really good coffee. Until it didn't.

The grinder broke after third use..does make great coffee

Great looking coffee maker, but does not keep coffee hot. There is no heating unit for the carafe. It is thermal but just doesn’t really keep the coffee temp I prefer. Now that my 1 yr warranty has just expired, the grinder doesn’t seem to be calibrating the correct amount of beans per what machine is set for cup wise.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I've had this for a couple years and I'm just at wits end with it. The grinder gave me issues several times and now we've moved onto it randomly leaking all over my counter and floor. I've descaled it, reinstalled the reservoir bottom several times and I'm just done with it. Impossible to keep it clean as well. I spent so much on this and I'm surprised it hasn't performed better.

I purchased the white matte Thermal Carafe. It's a beautiful coffee maker and you will taste the quality of the coffee when brewed. I like that there is three types of brew strengths and you can change the grind size. However, the reason for my three star on this item review is due to a defect on the thermal carafe itself. There seems to be a leak internally where liquid gets inside the internal thermal wall where the lip of the pour and thermal pitcher meet. When I washed it I noticed there was soapy water when I placed the Carafe upside right to dry. I reached out to Carafe support and hope they can send me a new thermal carafe.